


Amen

by 27suicide



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-12
Updated: 2015-05-12
Packaged: 2018-03-30 05:25:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3924517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/27suicide/pseuds/27suicide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura Hollis is writing an article on the three murders that happened near a church. She quickly realizes that one of the nuns is not so holy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amen

"How long will you be staying with us?"

Laura Hollis was looking down at her notes when the abbess asked her this. She didn't know what she was getting herself into when she agreed to do this piece on the monastery. She wanted a good story that would insure her a full time job at the paper, rather than stay an intern there for the rest of her days as a writer. There had been three murders in this small town, over the course of four months. All three bodies were found near the church. Maybe she should've brought some sort of weapon for protection...

She heard a slight cough and looked up.

"Sorry! What did you ask?"

"How long will you be staying with us?"  
The woman in front of her was sitting down but she could tell she was very tall. Her face was more masculine than the other faces she had past coming into the building. She held an intimidating posture and didn't seem like she smiled much. "Also, while you're here, you must call me Reverend Mother, or Mother, and the others, sisters. As a guest we ask that you respect the rules of the church with proper terms."

"Yes of course!" Laura internally hit herself for not doing more research on acceptable terminology. "I'm going to be here for two months."

"Usually we don't allow visitors to stay longer than a week, but Father Maxwell informed me that this paper - "

"The Issue." Laura filled in the name for her.

"Yes, The Issue. That we'd be getting a generous donation if we agreed to this," she looked at the blue jeans and V-neck Laura was wearing, "arrangement."

Laura readjusted in her seat so that she wasn't slouching. She assumed that was the problem.

"We don't want to seem as if it's all for the money, so when you write about the murders, if you could leave that part out. We really do need new bed frames and veils for the sisters."

"Sorry, veils?" Laura wondered what tendencies she was talking about.

She placed the palm of her right hand on her head and ran it down the side of the cloth she was wearing on her head. "This is a veil."

Ohh.

"Got it." Laura said as she wrote that somewhere amongst her notes.

"Now go back out the double doors you entered in and make a right. The last door on your left will say Sister Perry on the doorframe. She will help you get settled in."

Laura stood up. Understanding she was suppose to leave now. She walked towards the door and turned around. "Thank you again, this means a great deal to the The Issue and me."

"That reminds me," she brought out what looked like a mini calendar from her desk, "I would like to see you every two weeks to get an idea of how this article is being put together." She used a pen to write down a little reminder. "Every other Friday for the next two months, so a total of four times. Is that alright with you?" She looked up at Laura like she had no choice.

"Yes, that's not a problem! I wouldn't want to write anything that the church didn't approve of."

Mother Reverend capped her pen, keeping her eyes on Laura. "No, you wouldn't."

Laura was regretting this already. She offered a forced smile and swiftly closed the door. Outside in the hall with her hand still on the handle she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

Gosh, I hope not all the nuns are like her. What was her problem? Was the stereotype of the church proving to be true? Bunch of old hags that are bitter and assume everyone else is damned. I should've taken that story about the farm -

"Are you okay?"

Laura wiped around to find someone a little shorter than her with bright red hair framing their forehead. She hadn't realized she was sweating and still holding the doorknob till just now. She let go and gripped her folder, now holding it with both hands in front of her chest.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. Just, contemplating my story."

"Your story?" The red head looked Laura up and down, but with less judgment than Reverend Mother had.

"Yes, I'm a writer for The Issue. It's a newspaper. Well I'm not exactly a writer yet, but hopefully with my stay here, I will be." She wiped her hands on her pants and held out the one that felt dryer. "I'm Laura."

"I'm Sister LaF." They looked at the hand in front of them as if it were foreign, but shook it anyway then smiled. "You can call me LaF though, I've never liked the whole sister prefix."

Laura picked up on the apprehension her hand received. "Sorry, is that not the right way to greet a nun?"

LaF chuckled. "It's alright, we get a lot of handshakes since it's the socially acceptable way to greet someone. We usually bow." They stepped back and demonstrated, leaning forward just enough so that they're back was at a forty five degree angel.

"I'm going to need a bigger notepad." Laura started a new page.

Greeting -  
• hands to the side  
• lean forward  
• no handshakes

LaF had raised their head and was watching Laura write. "Did you write that down?" They laughed.

"Yes! I don't want to miss anything." She looked behind LaF and towards the double doors she had walked through. "You wouldn't happen to know where Sister Perry's room is, would you?"

"Yes I do, we live in the same convent." They smiled to themselves.

Laura felt there was more too the sentence than what she heard by the way they said it.  
She let it go.

"Oh you probably meant her office?" LaF realized, seeing what Laura was there for. "Right this way." They started walking down the hall and pushed past the double doors. Laura picked up a jog to catch up. They seemed very excited to show me where Sister Perry was.

We arrived at the door that Mother Reverend had described. The room held nothing but a desk, a chair, a bookshelf, and another red head.

"Sister Perry?" Laura entered and bowed like LaF had just shown her.

The other red head looked up. "Hello!" She was facing the door but was caught up in the papers that laid on the desk. She bowed back towards Laura and smiled at LaF. "Welcome to St. James, I don't think I've seen you around before."

"You haven't." Sister Perry came from around the desk to stand in front of them. "I'm Laura. This is my first time visiting your monastery, well, any monastery. I'm writing an article for the paper."

"Oh how wonderful! I'm assuming you're going to be with us for a good amount of time. People only come to me when they're staying."

"Yes, two months actually. So I don't miss anything about the environment and values. I also like the timeframe because then I can say I lived amongst you all long enough to write the truth."

"I agree that is a healthy amount of time to get the bigger picture. Follow me and I'll get you situated."

Laura and LaF followed Sister Perry out of the church to a concrete path that intersected at the front door. Straight ahead was to get to the road where Laura had come from. To the left seemed to be a field of what she guessed was fruit and vegetables. They took a right and we're heading towards another building. Not as big as the church, and looked more like two sorority houses pushed together, size wise. On the walk over there, about three hundred feet, Sister Perry was telling Laura about the history behind St. James. Laura wrote down what she could, seeing that she was moving and writing, but also because Sister Perry talked rather fast.

They got to the front door of the mini mansion and LaF held it open for them to enter.

"This is living the quarters, where you will be sleeping and bathing and such. All the nuns and female guests stay here. The priests and male guests stay in the church. When you go to sleep is up to you, but lights are out by eleven o'clock. The kitchen is to your left and in the back. Showers and toilets are to your right and in the back. We clean and do maintenance on Saturdays. Ranging from floors, to windows, to cutting the hedges. In case of an emergency I suggest you call 911, and yes to kill that thought now, we are aloud to have phones. This isn't the medieval times. You can always come to my room though, I'll be living down the hall from you. Any questions?"

Laura was still processing all of that so she shuck her head no.

"Great! Now let me show you where you'll be staying for your duration here." Sister Perry started up the stairs and Laura looked to LaF who was giggling at the Laura's dumbfounded facial expression. LaF followed after Sister Perry while Laura was still taking in the beautiful interior of the house. She wasn't expecting it, since the outside of it looked decades old. Everything was white, I mean everything. She swore the lightbulbs would have been too if that wouldn't bring down the elegance of the design. She put her hand on one of the two columns that sat on either side of the staircase in the middle of the room. It was marble, and cold, and white as a pearl. She looked up to the ceiling, guesstimating it stood twelve feet tall. Oh and the ceiling was -

"Laura!"

She looked up the staircase to see Sister Perry looking at her from the top step. "Come along dear."

She had decided that Sister Perry was the happiest person she'd ever met, and it was refreshing. 

She looked back at the ceiling again to take in how shiny it was before she turned on her heel to head up the stairs. As soon as she turned her body she had ran into another one. Dropping her notepad and two pens to the floor.

"Whoa, watch where you're going, spaz." 

She had bent down to pick up her things. "Gee wiz! I'm so sorry! I was just admiring the -

She had stood back up and was enamored with who stood before her. Even in the usual nun attire, this girl had such breathtaking features. Her skin was flawless, yet pale, and her lips curved at the tips like she knew something you didn't. Her eyes held a ego, but she could see why.

"Admiring what?" The girl said snapping her back into reality. 

"Laura come on!" Sister Perry seemed like the world was going to burn if Laura didn't see her room within the next ten seconds.

"I'm coming." Laura looked at the girl once more who was looking at Sister Perry with annoyance. "Sorry again." The girl looked back to her.

"Don't sweat it, cutie." She smirked at Laura before passing by her to head towards the kitchen? She thinks. She was still trying to remember all the information Sister Perry had said.

Laura went up the stairs and then the second flight. LaF and Sister Perry stopped at the door right in front of the stairs. Laura opened it and was confused.

"There's two beds in here." Not that she minded, just thought nuns didn't share rooms.

"Yes! Everyone has a roommate, we are sisters after all. This bed was recently filled, but sadly we had to let Sister Elsie go." Sister Perry leaned in closer to Laura so her voice was a whisper. "She had a child out of wedlock."

Laura nodded, showing that she understood.

"Anyways make yourself at home. I don't know if you're interested in prayer." She pushed her sleeve back to look at her watch. "It's 7:30 right now, and prayer starts at 8:15. It'll be downstairs in the dining area." With that Sister Perry gave her a smile and left. LaF had been waiting outside the room and looked in to Laura.

"If you need anything, I'm literally the room next to yours."

Laura thanked them and sat on her bed. The room was rather small, not matching the bigger rooms downstairs. There was two beds that were about five feet from each other with a window in between. Two dressers, two night stands, and one desk. It was a good sized room when she thought about it, but the amount of furniture took away from it. The strange thing about her room was whoever lived there. She saw at least ten books on the other nightstand, not one being the bible. Which surprised her, but then again they could have phones, so. The mystery nun had black sheets on her bed with a black pillowcase. On top of the dresser opposite hers was a cigarette pack with a lighter next to it. She was very interested in interviewing this nun. She got up and decided to go get her suitcase from her car that she'd left in the parking lot behind the church.

\------

When she returned she had taken out her hygiene kit and put it on her nightstand. Laid out two blankets she had brought and topped off the bed with her favorite, yellow, pillow.

She glanced at her watch, 7:59. She grabbed her notepad and a pen and headed downstairs. There was no way she was going to miss one of the most routine rituals that nuns do. Granted, she knew they'd be praying like, ten times a day, for the next two months. Still, she had nothing better to do than start her story.

She went down the two flights of stairs, already knowing she's going to hate that workout for her time here. She got to the first floor and walked around to try and find the dining area. There were nuns everywhere, I mean, this place must of held eighty of them. They were spread out amongst the house, but we're slowly migrating towards one of the rooms in the back. Laura followed the folk in front of her, receiving strange looks from most of them. When she arrived she stood in the back against the wall. This had to be the biggest room in the house. On the wall adjacent to hers was ten long windows that stretched the length of the room. She made a mental note to write in this room during the day. It must be beautiful when the curtains are drawn back. There was a giant hickory table in the middle, but not nearly enough seats for all the sisters. As they took their seats she realized many of them liked to stand, not even bothering to sit down at the empty chairs. There were three chandeliers, and a fireplace at the end of the table opposite of her. She wrote down the extravagance of this room.

Dining Room

\- big  
\- chandeliers  
\- fireplace

Sister Perry entered and gave her a nudge on the shoulder. She looked up from her notepad.

"This is compline or night prayer if you will. Afterwards is the Great Silence. That lasts until lauds, which is tomorrow mornings first prayer session. No one is aloud to speak or makes any unnecessary noises after compline."

"You can't talk till morning?" Laura was wondering when she'll be able to interview anyone.

"No." Sister Perry said it as if it was obvious. She looked over to LaF who was saving a seat for her near the fireplace, then back to Laura. "Also, when you hear 'let us pray' bow your head. You don't have to put your hands together if you don't want to but the bow is just polite." She left to go join LaF at the table.

As everyone settled down they looked towards the wall opposite of where Laura was standing. Near the fireplace.

"Welcome Sisters."

Laura spotted where the voice was coming from as a nun emerged from one of the groups that were standing against the wall. She was tall and lean, she wondered how she didn't notice her walk in. Oh but of course, she too had red hair.

"I hope you all had a blessed day. As you all know tomorrow is Saturday so I expect you all to be up and ready to clean by 6! You may perform lauds on your own time, and eat before we begin." She looked over to Laura, who was writing down the schedule that was just put out. "Not many of you may know, but we have a guest that will be staying with us for a little bit. Everyone this is Lau- " 

The nun she had ran into earlier near the staircase came through the door. She looked at the tall red head with satisfaction, as if she were right on time. Then leaned up against the wall Laura was up against.

"Sister Karnstein, nice of you to join us." The tall red head seemed displeased with the other sister as a person, more than what time it was. I looked at my watch. She was only a minute late.

Sister Karnstein grabbed my wrist and looked at the time as well. Her hand was ice cold. "I'm only a minute late. Who has the record book." She looked around the room sarcastically as if someone actually had it.

"As I was saying," the red head looked back to me, "everyone, this is Laura Hollis. She'll be staying with us for two months, from what Mother told me. Laura why don't you tell the sisters what you're here for."

I cleared my throat of nerves. "Hi, I'm Laura. I'm an intern for The Issue, and I'm writing an article about what has transpired here over the last four months." Some of the nuns looked at each other with sad looks in their eyes. They all had to of known the three who were killed, since they were nuns as well. "Anyone who is up for an interview while I'm here, please don't be shy. I'm just trying to tell the story from inside the church. I only want the best for its representation."

The red head in the front smiled at Laura's words. "Let's give her a round of applause sisters."

The room began to clap. For the most part they all seemed very welcoming. Everyone holding a smile on their face. Laura looked over to the sister a few feet away from her. She was picking at her nails.

Guess not everyone.

The clapping settled down and the tall red head started with a prayer. "Let us pray."

Laura bowed her head but kept her gaze up to observe all the sisters. Some just bowed their head as well. Some put their hands together. Some held the bible. Some held rosary beads. She peaked over to Sister Karnstein, who was still invested in her cuticles.

Laura flipped her page over to start a new one. She didn't want to disturb the praying so she wrote her question instead.

L : Why aren't you praying?

She moved a little closer to the sister and held it out in front of her. Sister Karnstein looked up to read it then took Laura's pen from her hand an responded.

SK : Why aren't you?

Laura was taken back by the rudeness of this nun. They continued to pass the notebook back and forth.

L : I'm writing for the paper. I'm not here to pray.

SK : So you're not religious?

L : I didn't say that. You must not be though, aren't you suppose to be participating?

Sister Karnstein chuckled before replying.

SK : I don't believe in God.

Laura read the sentence three times to make sure she read it right. She looked at the sister with confusion. Then back at her notepad.

L : But you're a nun.

SK : Wouldn't be the first time an angel has fallen. 

"Alright," Laura looked up to red head who must of finished praying because now all the nuns were looking at her, "who would like to read scriptures today? We'll be reading a bit of psalms, and the beginning of revelation. We're skipping some chapters to show the connection between these two."

"Ah revelations, my favorite." Sister Karnstein whispered to herself with a grin.

Laura just stared at her. Who is this nun? Is nun even the word to use? A nun who doesn't believe in God. Then what the heck is she doing here?

\------

Lauds lasted about an hour. All the sisters started to shuffle their way out of the room, not one saying a word. Laura followed the ones that went up the stairs and to their rooms. She was about to open the door when a hand was placed on hers that was holding the doorknob. She followed the arm with her eyes till they hit a face.

"Why are you going into my room?"

She's roomed with the anti-christian nun, go figure. 

Laura didn't say anything, remembering the rules that followed after lauds. Instead she turned the knob with Sister Karnstein's hand still on hers. When they both went inside the room where Laura closed the door so she could at least talk without anyone hearing her.

"You live here?" Laura was hoping she saw all the belongings inside and realized she was mistaken.

"You didn't answer my question. What're you doing in my room?" 

Laura looked at the black bed sheet. The black pillowcase. The cigarettes and lighter. Of course this is her room.

"This is the room Sister Perry assigned me while I'm here."

Sister Karnstein looked me up and down. When her gaze reached my eyes again her frustration turned into amusement. She turned around to face her dresser and removed the veil from her head. Long black wavy hair appeared and she pushed it over to one of her shoulders. "Well," she took out a cigarette from the pack and lit it, "if you're going to be bunking with me," she turned to face me again, "call me Carmilla."

I looked up at the smoke alarm that was on the ceiling. Carmilla laughed. "Don't worry sweetheart, I took the batteries out."

I looked back at her. "Of course you did."

She started to take off her habit. "Look," she had a white shirt and sweatpants underneath, "you obviously don't like me," she took a drag, and laid down on her bed, "but you're going to have to get over that if we're going to be roommates."

She wears sweatpants under her habit?

"You want a cigarette?"

"No thank you." I went over to my suitcase and took out my nightgown. I could still feel her eyes on me. I turned around. "Do you mind?"

She kept looking at me. "Oh no I'm good."

"I'm going to the bathroom." 

\------

LaF was brushing their teeth, facing one of the mirrors when I arrived.

They turned to me with the toothbrush still in mouth and smiled. "Hey." They whispered, through the foam they'd created.

"Aren't you not suppose to talk?" I whispered back.

They turned to the sink and spit before speaking. "Long as you keep your voice low it's not as frowned upon. For the most part, long as it's not between more than two people. Sister Perry tends to be more by the book than the rest of us."

I stepped closer to them. "Yeah, speaking of that, how come all of the nuns are so young?"

LaF kept their chuckle low. "There's another building, you might've seen it going into the church."

"Oh yeah the one behind it."

"Yeah that one. Once you hit around forty you get moved there. It wasn't always like that though. We recently had our Mother Reverend changed. This new one separated the old from the young."

Laura had to admit she didn't know much about the church. She did however know that one of the victims was the old Mother Reverend. "Why would she do that?"

"Your guess is as good as mind. Mother Karnstein is the strangest Mother I've ever - "

"Wait," I got even closer to LaF so that my voice was as low as it could be, "Mother Karnstein, as in related to Sister Karnstein?"

"Yeah, Mother Karnstein is literally Sister Karnstein's mother." LaF giggled to themselves. "You didn't know that?"

"I had no idea." 

How could the most disobedient nun of them all, be the daughter of Mother Reverend? 

Then she thought about it. They did share the same attitude. Distant, blunt, rude.

"Is it just me or does Sister Karnstein not take the whole nun thing very seriously?"

LaF had already started to pack up their hygiene kit. Their face expression became more serious, as they came up to my ear. "All I know is that the murders started happening around the time the Karnstein's came into town. So it doesn't surprise me that she doesn't care. They've always been unapproachable and disinterested." LaF stood back with a face that pretty much said 'if you want a story, that's it right there'.

I went back to a normal whisper. "Well I'm off to bed after I change."

LaF got the the hint. In case anyone was listening now. "Okay goodnight. See you tomorrow Laura."

"Night." I said as they left.

\------

When I came back up to the room Carmilla was still smoking her cigarette. Or probably a new one. Who knows. I don't know how long those things last. I pulled back my covers and laid down.

"Are you going to sleep?" Carmilla asked still lazily on her bed.

"It's ten o'clock. It's almost lights out anyways."

She huffed. "That doesn't mean you have to go to bed."

I glanced at her hand that held the nicotine. "Well unlike you, I follow the rules."

"But there's so much you can do in the night."

"Yeah, like sleep."

She turned a little in her bed so she was facing me. "So when you go to bed at night with your boyfriend, you just go to sleep?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I don't have a boyfriend."

Carmilla laughed. "I'm shocked."

I sat up. "Excuse me?"

Carmilla readjusted. Leaning her weight on her elbow. "You don't seem very experienced."

"I'm, well, I'm not. I mean I've done that. But, I don't even know why I'm entertaining you with conversation." I coughed. The smoke was taking up most of the air in the room. "Do you think you could put that out? Second hand smoke is real."

Carmilla busted out laughing. "You can't be serious?"

I waved the air in front of me to push it away.

Carmilla looked at the burn of her Marlboro come towards her finger. "I'm done anyway." She sat all the way up and laid her now free hand in front of her smoking hand. Turning the cigarette upside down with her fingers, she put the flame out on the palm of her hand. Holding it there, she made no reaction of pain. 

"What the what?!" I hopped out of bed and rushed over to aid her hand she just purposely burned. "Are you crazy?"

Carmilla smiled when I took her by the wrist to examine her palm. "Whoa cutie. If you wanted to sin together, you could've just asked."

I threw her wrist back down, but not because of the suggestive remark.

"Your skin is freezing cold!"

She smugly smiled. "I got a heart to match it." 

"No I mean like you should be in a morgue, kind of cold."

Carmilla placed the back of her hand to her forehead, as if feeling her own temperature. "Seems normal to me."

I stepped back. Not feeling safe that close to Carmilla. "Are you insane? Your skin is ice cold and you didn't even move when you put out your cigarette."

Carmilla pulled the sheets over her legs and torso and laid down so her head was on her pillow. She sighed. "You were right earlier. I think we should go to sleep."

I suddenly couldn't move. Standing in this spot. I wonder if it's hereditary. Come to think of it, I never shook Mother Reverend's hand. Maybe they have cold hands in their family. That's a thing, right?

"Could you stop staring?"

I forgot I was still looking at her. "Yeah," I slowly backed up till I hit my bed, "we should go to sleep."

"You're still staring."

"Sorry." I laid down and moved my gaze to the ceiling. 

Carmilla leaned over her bed and picked up one of her shoes. 

I looked at her through the corner of my eye. 

She raised the shoe above her head, then chucked it at the wall in front of her. While it made a thud, it successfully hit the light switch from up to down, before gravity brought it to the floor again. 

I closed my eyes and moved around till I was comfortable. "You're very strange." I whispered in the dark.

She ruffled around in her sheets till she found contentment. "There are worse things to be."

\------

Laura woke up at two thirty to use the bathroom. Shuffling to her suitcase she blindly reached in for her phone. She turned it on to use the light as a guide. Not until her return from her ventures of 'almost dying on the stairs due to lack of light', did she realize Carmilla wasn't in her bed. Was she there when Laura left?

Laura brushed it off. Not like she cared where her jerk face roommate was anyway.

No, Laura didn't care.

Till she realized Carmilla's top dresser drawer was open. Temptation took over. 

She slowly walked over towards Carmilla's side of the room, using the moonlight coming through the window to guide her. Opening up what little was left to be opened she looked inside.

No, Laura didn't care.

Until she saw something she'd never seen before.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm half asleep & writing this. It's 1am in Hawaii. Forgive me if it sucks. Let me know if it's worth continuing.


End file.
